Nights Like These
by idiosyncraticWordsmith
Summary: Two lovers spend a night together in the dream bubbles in a memory of an earthly city. In the light of a city at night, they discover a new courage to try new things with one another, and that, on nights like these, the unexpected is somewhat more expectable. JadeKat fluff, no smut. Part of the Dreaming Lovers continuity.


Nights Like These

_By the Idiosyncratic Wordsmith_

Heavy breath pounded through the chilled temperate air, as a mutant-blooded troll and a girl with white dog ears panted with each other, their heated foreheads leaning together in a craning display of affection, on top of a tall building in the middle of literal nowhere.

Tonight marked the night of their second week seeing each other, and despite the initial courageous intimacy, the two of them had, for the most part, been very respectful of each other's boundaries, which were quite wide, given the fairly isolated lives both of them had lead. Jade was very comfortable around Karkat, clingy, even, holding some part of him, be it his hand or arm or waist or head, any and every time she could. Karkat was just as affectionate, although much, much more reserved and hesitant. He'd always return any displays of fondness Jade would show for him, but never had the courage or confidence to do much of the same. They kissed, of course, but never anything much beyond PG material. They spent all of their time together talking and laughing and quietly enjoying each other's presence - for Jade, it was more company than she would've been able to hope for since LOWAS exploded, and for Karkat, it was a great way to emotionally decompress from the stress of being on the meteor.

Their usual stalking ground here in the dream bubbles was a memory of Jade's former island home, during a tropical winter night with a stunning view of the night sky overhead. The chilled but still comfortable air made for great conditions to be close and cozy, and so they dreamed of the same memory every night. Tonight, however, they were feeling adventurous - tonight, they'd take a walk through the bubbles to find someplace new. So when they met up, they took each other's hands, and took a stroll across the void and the memoirs of the dreaming dead. After a short while, and perhaps a dozen bubbles, they came across a secluded area that Karkat recognized from the Trollian viewport as the rooftop of Dave's apartment building. It was night in the memory, and the air was warmer than their usual but still a bit cool. The city was bright, though, and the stars were dimmed. Jade, however, was pleased by the change of scene - being able to see a city coursing with lights was just as neat as a sky full of stars to her. Karkat grumbled and complained about it, saying it wasn't nearly as romantic, but a few seconds of a beautiful, intelligent, clever human girl fawning over him was all it took to get his soft blood pumper to open up to the idea.

Thus it had come to be that the two of them sat on a skyscraping apartment complex in the middle of a Texan city, with Jade leaning against Karkat, her arms wrapped around one of his own. They sat like that for a great deal of time, talking and flirting. At one point, the conversation took a turn for the personal with a question from Jade.

"So red is matesprit, pale is moirail, ashen is auspistice, and black is kissmesi-whatever?" She asked while being taught about troll romance.

"Yeah - kismesis. You're really learning this a lot faster than your shit headed friends. I don't think I'll ever get Dave to understand the fucking intricacies of -" Karkat began to complain, but Jade shot him a glare. _"Be nice to my friends_," It reminded him. "OK, OK, sorry." He replied. She snuggled up closer to him.

"So… do you have any other… quadrants?" She asked, to his confusion.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"You know. We're matesprits, right? And you have three other quadrants. Is there anybody else in your life?" She asked. It felt a little strange to her, since she always thought love was a one-person deal, but he wasn't human, now, was he? As long as he was happy, and as long as she had him to call her own, she'd be happy, too.

"Well, I… no. You kind of… fill every quadrant for me yourself, actually." Karkat explained. He never felt like he was ever at any loss of romantic fulfillment with her - they had the warmth of matesprits, but also the caretaking of moirails and the heated debacles of kismeses, and she auspictized between him and his own self-loathing in her own way. If there was somebody else meant for his quadrants, he'd never know nor care.

"Even the black one?" She asked. He responded with a kiss.

"You are my life, Jade Harley. And you of all people know goddamn well that I have a tendency to hate my life." He explained, leaning into her a bit more. She smiled, flattered. For such an ornery troll with a gravelly, raspy voice, he did have a way with words. Blushing, she thought of something she wanted to try that night.

"Karkat, you and I haven't really… kissed, have we?" She questioned. She got a confused stare back.

"What the fuck do you mean? Of _course_ we have. We've done it plenty of times. We did it just now!" He exclaimed. This _was_ his Jade, right? Not some dream bubble doomed Jade?

"Well, yeah, we've done _simple_ stuff, but… we haven't really… _made out_, or anything." She explained. They've had long kisses and short kisses, but always simple kisses. She wanted to feel what it was like to make out with someone… to make out with her boyfriend, she corrected herself. The thought itself made her blush a bit. _I have a boyfriend… a real boyfriend who loves me… who ever would've thought that Jade Harley from the island in the middle of nowhere would get a __**boyfriend**__?_

"Uh… y-yeah, I guess…" Karkat replied. He felt himself blushing, and had to remind himself that red blood was OK to humans - again. He shifted a bit, uncomfortably. He could tell where this was going, and while he wasn't against it, he was anxious. _Everything_ about Jade made him anxious, really - in all the best ways, of course.

To rattle his nerves even more, he felt lips on his neck, at the crook between his lower jaw and artery. Jade spoke softly and quietly - not suggestively, but tenderly and with a noticeable desire echoing in her words.

"Do you want to try?"

He blushed significantly more, and Jade giggled, her own blush evident. He turned to look at her - she had retracted one of her arms, and her newly freed hand was brushing her hair back. _God, she's beautiful_, he thought. The way that black hair shined in the light of the city made his heart stop. He had the pressing want rising in his chest to just grab her and kiss her and keep kissing her until they couldn't breath. He resisted that temptation, but questioned why he was. It's not like she wouldn't _enjoy_ it - he guessed. He was just too nervous, too shaky. She smiled at him, and his heart melted even more, the way it always does when she flashes her smiles at him. It didn't even matter how she smiled - just seeing her face brighten up like that broke his will like a twig. God, he was a pathetic excuse for a troll - a human girl had him in the palm of her hand.

"We don't have to if you don't want to…" She mentioned. She didn't want to press him too hard or make him feel uneasy. She could tell that he was shaky about the idea, and she respected that he was much slower to be intimate than she was. Not that she was _quick_ or anything - but Karkat was too self-conscious to be willing to try escalating anything. As if she minded - he was adorable when he was flustered.

"No, no… I… well…" Karkat stammed. _Kiss her. Be slow. Be fast. Be gentle. Be forceful. Let her move first. Take command. Be reactive. Be assertive._ It seemed like the only thing his thoughts could agree on was to kiss her and kiss her the way she wanted to be kissed and the way he wanted to kiss her.

So he did.

He wrapped one arm - the one nearer to her - around her waist, and placed his other hand on the back of her head, pulling her face up to his, planting his lips on hers with a noticeable amount of force. A loud "_Mmph_" reverberated in her throat in shock, and her eyes opened wide in surprise. Her heart didn't skip a beat, though - rather, it gave one immense, powerful beat that pounded against even _his _chest. For a moment, he considered retracting himself, but stayed as committed as he could. He moved his lips on hers, and after a moment, she managed to collect herself and reciprocate. She slid an arm up his back, placing it on the back of his head, losing her hand in the warm sea of his jet black hair. She used her free hand to cup his face, and began moving her lips against his own. Their mouths were open, but neither was brave enough to try escalating anything any more. This was already a big leap.

The two of them held each other like that, not just kissing with passion but passionately kissing, various breaths and moans escaping from their throats, their eyes closed and yet filled with each other. Jade was positively ecstatic internally - she was making out with her boyfriend. She was _making out_… with her _boyfriend_. _She. Was making out. With. Her. __**Boyfriend.**_ Karkat's own thoughts were electric, as well, but much simpler: _Don't fuck up don't fuck up don't fuck up. _Moans, high pitched and low, from both of them, were the music of the night tonight. They continued like this, engaged in their intimate displays of affection for each other, for several minutes, growing more and more comfortable, molding to each other and removing more and more space between them. It was blissful peace.

Finally, it came to be that they parted, and found themselves breathless and panting, craning with one another, their eyes still closed as they caught their breaths. Jade opened her eyes first, and saw Karkat's face pressed so close to hers, their black hairs catching each other as if holding hands, and smiled a bit. She admired his face - the angles, the crooks, the unhumanly smooth skin, the grey-and-red mix of his flesh and blood, and saw everything she loved about him in one sight. Then he opened his eyes, and saw those sparkling green eyes looking back at him, and felt another dire desire to kiss her. He repressed it for now.

"So… so how was it?" He asked. He needed to know how badly he failed to live up to her expectations.

"It… was…" She panted. "..._Breath taking_." She finished. It was the only word she could find. Aside from one other. Or, maybe more. "Incredible. Great. I… it… was good." She stammered. _Wow, Harley, what a way you have with words_. He simply laughed softly - he was trying to keep himself loose

"Well… do you… do you want to…" He alluded. She smiled and giggled.

"You really think you have to ask, fuckass?" She replied cutely and with a small, excited voice.

And just as quickly as they parted, their lips reunited, light smiles on both. In a few seconds, Jade was gently pulling Karkat on top of her as she laid down on the ground. Once he was laying on her, he placed his hands on her cheeks as her arms went around his back, and the enjoyed the intimacy of the new position. Karkat, however, paused after a few more seconds of that, putting his hands of the ground and lifting himself off, pulling back, looking down on Jade. She was smiling at first, but the smile faded when she saw how sober his expression was. A few heartbeats passed as a question hung in the air, heavier than lead.

"Karkat…" Jade said. She was beautiful, her hair splayed out all around her on the ground, shining and shimmering in the light, her white dog ears like twin moons set in the midnight black of her hair. He took a hand and slid her glasses off, setting them aside where they won't be broken - as if it mattered in the dream bubbles. A few more rapid heart beats, a couple of light pants, and a strenuous moment of choice passed. Karkat brought himself back down onto her, putting his hands back to her cheeks, putting his face close to hers.

"This… this is good for now…" He declared. She smiled, nodded, and lifted her head up a bit to meet his lips for a breath peck before he brought his lips down on her to resume their previous activity.

After all, while spoil nights like these with too much excitement?


End file.
